Josh Smith's Attitude

evildallas · Post #1 » by **evildallas** » Wed Jul 2, 2008 8:30 am

I keep seeing little snippets in different opinions posted on the free agent class that the Atlanta front office is concerned about investing so much given Josh Smith's attitude or that he has great ability, but questionable leadership or character. Does anyone remember any specific attitude-related issues from this last year? I missed very few games and I don't recall anything major. Is this all stemming from the incident in Philly season before last when Josh Smith got feed up with Woodson's end of game management and what appeared to be tanking by the team when Josh still wanted to win? Or is this a classic example of columnists cribbing off each other to the point that one's man opinion gets reported like it is fact?

HoopsWorld article
Chad Ford Article
CNNSI.com article

HoopsGuru25 · Post #2 » by **HoopsGuru25** » Wed Jul 2, 2008 9:31 am

Is this all stemming from the incident in Philly season before last when Josh Smith got feed up with Woodson's end of game management and what appeared to be tanking by the team when Josh still wanted to win?

Yes. It really wasn't that...it was that incident which led to an article by Peter Vescey saying that Smith was a horrible teammate and a thug.

ATLfan · Post #3 » by **ATLfan** » Wed Jul 2, 2008 11:36 am

I can't think of any problems Josh had last year.

will · Post #4 » by **will** » Wed Jul 2, 2008 11:39 am

It's not Smith's fault he wants to win every game. His little incident involving him and Lil Ty Lue was exactly what it was. Lue was going on with his usual chucking, and Smith checked him. Excuse the fact he busts his ass each game to make those nitty gritty plays on the defensive end to make things happen for the team. Big mistake if the Hawks let him go.

Post #5 » by **HMFFL** » Wed Jul 2, 2008 1:06 pm

will wrote:It's not Smith's fault he wants to win every game. His little incident involving him and Lil Ty Lue was exactly what it was. Lue was going on with his usual chucking, and Smith checked him. Excuse the fact he busts his ass each game to make those nitty gritty plays on the defensive end to make things happen for the team. Big mistake if the Hawks let him go.

Josh Smith still needs to have control over himself. Josh can easily change after he signs a contract that pays him 55 million or more and the last thing we need is him being a headache.

FCNATL85 · Post #6 » by **FCNATL85** » Wed Jul 2, 2008 2:22 pm

ATL cannot afford to let JS walk. I would rather prefer see them S&T JS rather than letting him walk...
In a S&T, they would probably not get the same value back though...

conleyorbust · Post #7 » by **conleyorbust** » Wed Jul 2, 2008 2:30 pm

HMFFL wrote:
will wrote:It's not Smith's fault he wants to win every game. His little incident involving him and Lil Ty Lue was exactly what it was. Lue was going on with his usual chucking, and Smith checked him. Excuse the fact he busts his ass each game to make those nitty gritty plays on the defensive end to make things happen for the team. Big mistake if the Hawks let him go.

Josh Smith still needs to have control over himself. Josh can easily change after he signs a contract that pays him 55 million or more and the last thing we need is him being a headache.

Agree with you, he needs to be careful.

That being said, this smacks of the Detroit column earlier this year where the columnist basically made something up and Sekou went after him for it.

An image is a hard thing to repair, even here on the Hawks board you have Hawks fans that should know about the kid saying that he has a poor work ethic and he doesn't play to win.

LL Cool Scott · Post #8 » by **LL Cool Scott** » Wed Jul 2, 2008 3:23 pm

I'll take Josh Smith's intensity (and the occasional blow-ups that inevitably come with it) over the other 95% of players in this league who just go through the motions. I'll take that intensity every day of the week. He and Al Horford are the ONLY leaders we've got!

Skyhawk1 · Post #9 » by **Skyhawk1** » Wed Jul 2, 2008 6:35 pm

A players attitude goes way beyong going at it with his coach. It's about how flexible and willing to hear and learn a player is as well. That's the biggest reason why I wanted Woodson gone. I do think J. Smith sometimes couldn't care less about what he says. Now, we are about to make a decision on a player that will get paid for what he could possibly do (not his current production), knowing that the coach we have just given an extension can't get the best out of him. As everyone here knows, any NBA player playing in a contract year has better numbers and tries to stay out of trouble since that can't hurt what they can make.

Hawks · Post #10 » by **Hawks** » Wed Jul 2, 2008 7:01 pm

Smoove attitude hasn't been a problem the last several years. I think being a parent and getting married has settle him down. Sure he will get fired up. We need that on this team.

Rip2137 · Post #11 » by **Rip2137** » Wed Jul 2, 2008 8:41 pm

Its always funny who the media decides are attitude problems.

A few season a go Paul Pierce was not liking his coach, team, pouting, breaking offensive plays...clearly a attitude problem. I guess he shoudl have been out the league.

Robert Horry once threw a towel in Danny Ainges face because he got pulled out a game....still don't see anyone talking about him. Shaq and Kobe walked away from Kurt Rambis in a huddle the year before Phil got there. Michael Jordan punched Steve Kerr for setting screens too hard. Scottie Pippen refused to go in a game. Gilbert Arenas had games where he wouldn't take shots or questioned the coach about having to play defense. But all of that is okay. Josh yells at Woody over a dumb decision in a game and you should think about giving him the max.

Of all the reasons to think before giving Smith the max, this isn't one of them. its a emotional game, and emotions explode from time to time.

JoshB914 · Post #12 » by **JoshB914** » Wed Jul 2, 2008 9:14 pm

The bottom line to me is this, no one watches the Hawks, and the media has become so lazy that most of these guys don't watch them either. So they go off of what they read, which is some absurd and fabricated story from jerk-offs like the Detroit beat guy or Peter Vescey.

If they had watched the Hawks, they would have seen what a hard worker Smoove is. His attitude and work ethic should not be in question.

Are there issues with Smith's self control at times? Absolutely. But I will live with a couple of blow ups from an emotional player when we are getting 100% commitment from them at all times.

evildallas · Post #13 » by **evildallas** » Wed Jul 2, 2008 11:41 pm

JoshB914 wrote:The bottom line to me is this, no one watches the Hawks, and the media has become so lazy that most of these guys don't watch them either. So they go off of what they read, which is some absurd and fabricated story from jerk-offs like the Detroit beat guy or Peter Vescey.

If they had watched the Hawks, they would have seen what a hard worker Smoove is. His attitude and work ethic should not be in question.

Are there issues with Smith's self control at times? Absolutely. But I will live with a couple of blow ups from an emotional player when we are getting 100% commitment from them at all times.

Well said.